Hernandez prosecutors will not ask Carlos Ortiz to testify

Friday

Jan 31, 2014 at 8:01 PMJan 31, 2014 at 8:09 PM

Prosecutors call accused accomplice "completely unreliable."

Brian Fraga Herald News Staff Reporter @BfragaHN

FALL RIVER — Prosecutors will not call Carlos Ortiz to testify against Aaron Hernandez at trial because they believe Ortiz is "completely unreliable," according to new documents filed Friday in superior court.

Ortiz, 27, also made a "proffer" — an offer made prior to the start of formal negotiations — during a meeting with prosecutors, according to a Dec. 16 letter that Hernandez's lawyers sent to First Assistant District Attorney William McCauley, one of the lead prosecutors in the Hernandez murder case.

For months, Ortiz, a codefendant charged with accessory to murder after the fact, was thought to be a key prosecution witness against Hernandez, 24, the former Patriots star tight end who is charged with the June 17, 2013, murder of Odin Lloyd in the North Attleborough Industrial Park.

When he was first arrested last summer in his hometown of Bristol, Conn., Ortiz told police that Hernandez and Ernest Wallace, 44, were outside their vehicle in the industrial park when Lloyd was shot five times with a .45-caliber handgun. Ortiz said he was sleeping, heard a gunshot and then saw Wallace and Hernandez return to the vehicle.

Ortiz also recounted conversations between Hernandez and Lloyd in the vehicle, told police that he saw Hernandez carrying a handgun and made apparent references to Hernandez's alleged "flophouse" in Franklin, which "other football players used" and where investigators said they found evidence, including clothing and ammunition, according to court documents.

Those police reports fueled speculation that Ortiz would be the prosecution's star witness. But in recent months, it came to light that Ortiz had changed his story to say Hernandez was alone with Lloyd outside the vehicle.

Ortiz's lawyer, John J. Connors of Fall River, declined to comment when reached by phone on Friday. Connors — who court documents say was present with Ortiz during the proffer with prosecutors — said he could not confirm whether his client had made any kind of offer to cooperate with the prosecution.

Hernandez's lawyers are requesting documentation of any meeting between prosecutors, detectives and Ortiz, who is currently held on $500,000 cash bail. Hernandez's defense team also requested the factual basis for police telling Ortiz last June that his hair and DNA were found on a white towel that investigators located near Lloyd's body in the industrial park.

Hernandez's lawyers are also seeking information to show that Ortiz was associated with a Connecticut gang known as "Doowop," as well as any pictures that police detectives showed Ortiz during his June 24, 2013, interview at the Bristol, Conn., Police Department, according to court documents.

McCauley, in a Jan. 23 letter to Hernandez's lawyers, said prosecutors agreed to provide or have already provided discovery materials that include police reports, audio recordings of witness interviews, physical and ballistic evidence, forensic reports and the backgrounds of potential witnesses, and whether any of them have been given incentives to cooperate with the prosecution.

Hernandez's lawyers also want other materials, including a copy of a 14-page letter that Wallace — who is charged with accessory to murder after the fact — is said to have sent to Tanya Singleton, Hernandez's cousin who is charged with contempt and conspiracy to commit accessory after the fact.

Defense lawyers also requested any information as to whether Lloyd, a semi-professional football player from Dorchester, had any knowledge or inside information about a July 2012 double homicide in Boston. Detectives in Boston suspect Hernandez was the driver and gunman in the deadly drive-by shooting. It has been reported that Lloyd might have known about the Boston homicides and that Hernandez may have been angry at him for talking about it.

In his Jan. 23 letter, McCauley told Hernandez's lawyers that there is no evidence connecting Lloyd to the double homicide. As for Lloyd's purported knowledge of that case, McCauley told Hernandez's lawyers to review the discovery materials that have already been provided.